Monitor Audio GX-100

Pair of 2-way Gold GX series speakers in piano black lacquer

The GX100 is a larger 2-way stand mount speaker featuring a 6.5" RST bass driver and C-CAM ribbon transducer. Operating with the performance of a typical 8" driver, our proprietary 6.5" design provides higher overall efficiency with dynamic headroom to deliver impressive bass extension and control. The GX100's uncomplicated 2-way configuration renders complex material with tonal accuracy and perfect timing. It may occupy the space of a stand-mount speaker, but the GX100 sounds like a reference floor-stander. Optional, dedicated floor stands are available.

Features

• New C-CAM® ribbon transducer design – providing extension to a class leading 60KHz
• HiVe® port technology for better transient response and tighter bass
• Single bolt through driver fixings for improved bracing, rigidity and driver/baffle de-coupling
• Die-cast alloy terminal panel arrangement with high quality bi-wire terminals and high end spade type link cables
• Pureflow® Silver internal cabling
• Selected premium quality wood veneers or high gloss piano finishes.
• Rigid 20mm MDF construction throughout, employing radial and cross-bracing techniques for high rigidity resulting in low cabinet colouration
• Invisible magnetic grille fixing provides clean visual styling when used with the grille off

Specifications

System Format: 2 Way

Frequency Response: 42 Hz - 60 kHz

Sensitivity (1W@1M): 88 dB

Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms

Maximum S.P.L (Per pair in room): 112.6 dBA

Power Handling (RMS): 120 W

Recommended Amplifier Requirements (RMS): 60 - 120 W

Bass Alignment: Bass reflex. HiVe port system

Crossover Frequency: 2.7 kHz

Drive Unit Compliment: 1 x 6.5" RST bass/mid-range driver, 1 x C-CAM H.F ribbon transducer

External Dimensions excl Stand (H x W x D 362 x 210 x 303 mm (14 3/8 x 8 1/4 x 11 15/16 inch)

Weight (each): 9.9 Kg (21.75 lbs)

Technology

C-CAM® Bass Drivers: Refined over many years by Monitor Audio, Ceramic-Coated Aluminum/Magnesium is used as a driver cone material for all our speaker designs from the mid-market models up. Originally developed by the aerospace industry for jet engine components, C-CAM's properties are ideal for loudspeaker cones being extremely rigid, yet light enough to yield high overall efficiency. C-CAM bass drivers are able to resist the bending distortion imposed by sudden and extreme bass excursions to reproduce very clean, deep and dynamic bass frequencies. Conventional cone materials are more likely to flex in operation, producing a significant level of audible distortion.

Ribbon Transducer: Monitor Audio's proprietary ribbon tweeter design uses an ultra-thin sandwich of C-CAM alloy suspended in a powerful transverse magnetic field of high energy NeFeB rare earth magnets. The ribbon serves as both voice coil and radiating diaphragm, with every part of the ribbon driven directly and simultaneously without energy storage. Having a mass of just 18mg, its diaphragm is able to start and stop in an instant, producing a transient response capable of defining the leading edge and natural harmonic resonance of complex musical sounds. Specified to reach ultra-high frequencies up to an elusive 100 kHz, Platinum’s magical ribbon tweeter will reproduce with ease every last nuance and detail from vinyl, CD, DVD-A and SACD, together with the wider bandwidth of Blu-ray.

C-CAM® Drivers: Ceramic-Coated Aluminum/Magnesium is a material originally developed by the aerospace industry for jet engine components. Its properties are ideal for loudspeaker cones being extremely rigid, yet light enough to yield high overall efficiency. In manufacture, aluminum/magnesium alloy undergoes a three-stage stress-relieving process to remove surface deformation and molecular weakness. Once formed, the alloy cone is subjected to a high temperature anodic coating process in which a layer of pure ceramic alumina is depleted onto its surfaces to a depth of 50 microns, producing a completely rigid sandwich of alloy and heat-dissipating ceramic material.

Conventional cones are liable to flex or twist in operation, producing a significant level of audible distortion. C-CAM cones have a much higher resistance to bending stress and therefore exhibit much greater fidelity over their entire operating range. C-CAM tweeters and woofers share an audible consistency producing a smooth transition of frequencies and a sense of realism and cohesion in the soundstage.

Gold Dome C-CAM®: The gold dome tweeter is formed from a ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium alloy, gold anodised to a specific thickness for ideal stiffness and damping characteristics. Its new profile and surround geometry have been developed using advanced modeling tools, to provide the optimum qualities for accurate sound reproduction. The new design moves the first order of breakup to beyond 35kHz, producing a linear response way beyond audibility, which matches the wide frequency bandwidth available from HD music and cinema sound formats.

The gold dome is thinner, lighter, more rigid and therefore more efficient than domes made from other materials which are prone to distortion in the audio band.

RST: The Rigid Surface Technology (RST) cone profile is inspired by the Japanese art of Origami, which demonstrates how a very light material (like paper) can be strengthened and made more rigid by making small and precise folds on its surface. Monitor Audio has applied this principle in designing the CAM/RST cones for the GX and RX ranges. Developed and perfected using sophisticated computer modelling (Finite Element Analysis), the GX mid and bass driver cones have been strengthened by a series of radial ribs; the RX driver cones by a pattern of dimples. Our simulations have proved that RST significantly increases cone rigidity, allowing the radiating surfaces to resist mechanical bending forces, which can twist the shape of conventional driver cones to produce distorted sound. The strengthening effect of RST means that we can use thinner, lighter and more responsive C-CAM cones, which provide speed and accuracy while offering greatly reduced distortion. The RST patterns also help to displace standing waves that can propagate on the cone's surface.